She Wouldn't Be Bones
by IConcurVehemently
Summary: What if you had been there? You know, when they had left her?


**Just something I thought about.**

**Hey, does anyone know where to find the writing challenges thingies? Like Cullen's Bullpen Challenge and the sort? **

**Let me know!**

**Disclaimer:** I don't own _Bones_.

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Sometimes, you wish you had been there.

You know, when they left her. She was just fifteen – a freshman, maybe a sophomore in high school. It was the time she had needed them most: _Can I have my best friend sleep over, Mom? What do I wear, Mom? How do I dress for my first date, Mom? Dad, will you teach me to drive? Dad, will you come to my graduation? Mom, how do I get that boy's attention? Dad, will you explain football to me?_

_No,_ they had answered in complete silence. _No, we won't help you. _

Maybe it's your "savior complex" as Sweets calls it. But he's just a kid – he doesn't get the fact that you just feel like you need to protect those weaker than you. And what if you _had_ protected her?

What if she had been your lab partner in biology or something? Well, that probably wouldn't have been the best idea, considering you teased that geek relentlessly. Not to mention you were five years older than her, so there was no possible way that you two could have gone to school together – not unless you were _ridiculously_ dumb and managed to flunk four years of high school…but if you were _that_ stupid, you wouldn't have been in her braniac science class anyway.

But if you were painting her in an alternate light, why couldn't you do the same to yourself?

What if you had been her lab partner? What if, as you were cutting open dead frogs and grimacing over the awful smell of their intestines, you two bonded? What if you sat next to her in tenth grade Lit and she'd explained to you why MacBeth was such an _idiot_? What if, while you were conversing over the throws of Shakespeare, she told you how awful her life at home was? What if you had protected her from the jocks – who would be your friends, Mr. Golden Boy – who undoubtedly teased her at every given opportunity?

What if you two had struck up your friendship then? Would she still have dated Jared, after seeing the countless bruises that marred your body, your badges of courage from protecting her? Surely, she wouldn't have been able to read every mark in-depth, as she would not have years and years of study on the human body, but she would have known something was wrong. Would you two have grown closer due to the fact that _both_ of your family lives sucked?

What if you two had grown _that_ close? What if she wasn't just your best friend? What if she was your girlfriend? What would it be like to see her walk down the staircase in a floor-length gown as you took her to prom? What would her skin feel like as you slipped the corsage on her wrist? Would her nimble fingers pin your boutonniere to your tux coat effortlessly, or would they have shaken with adrenaline and fear and teenage anticipation for the supposed best night of her life? How would she have smiled when you two had your picture taken together? Would she have been as radiant back then as she was now?

What if you had been her friend when nobody else had? Would she have looked to a college professor – a grown _man _– for affection in college? Would she be as clueless when it came to sports? Would she still be closed off to the notion of love?

What if she had lived a normal childhood? Would she still have these ten-foot thick concrete walls around her heart? Would she still smile so rarely?

What if she had become a normal woman?

"A nickel for your thoughts," she speaks, making you shake off your daydreaming.

"A penny for your thoughts, Bones. _Penny_."

"Oh," she grins sheepishly. "What are you thinking about?"

_Oh, nothing,_ you think. _Just what it would have been like seeing you walk around the halls of our high school wearing my jersey and holding my hand and smiling and dancing at parties with me and going to prom with me and stuff like that. _

"Nothing important, Bones."

"Are you sure?" she cocks her head to the side, like that dog Ripley she loved so much.

"Yeah, Bones. I'm picking my battles, that's all."

"I don't know what that means," she answers flatly.

Then it hits you. You know what would have happened, if she'd grown up normally.

She would have been Tessa. She would have been Rebecca. She would have been Angela. She would have been Cam.

She might have been Temperance, the lovely mother of two. She might have been Mrs. Brennan, the science teacher at the high school. She might have been Tempe, your childhood best friend.

But she wouldn't be Bones.

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**Whew! Random drabble off my chest! By the way, we have five more reviews to go before I post the next chapter on _Days Go By_! **

**:) :) :)**


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